Pink Paint and Roses

All Hallows Eve

Today is Halloween, one of my favorite holidays! It's a bit chilly and the wind is tossing around the fallen leaves and it looks and feels perfect. I watched the kids parade up and down the block stopping at Halloween friendly houses to get their treats. There were a few Superman costumes, several Princesses, Darth Vader, all sorts of animal costumes and even lots of Moms dressed up this year. We had our usual handful of greedy adults at the door holding bags for infant babies in carriages, we will recognize these people later in life by the condition of their teeth.

Tonite is also the eve of my 47th birthday. Yes, tomorrow I will have the usual brouhaha (what the heck does that mean anyway?) Actually we will be going out to dinner to celebrate not only my birthday but my oldest daughter and fiance got the word this evening that they are closing on their house Friday. YEAH!!! So this weekend we will be moving them into their new home. Do you remember that? What a thrill to get your first home, scary and deliriously happy!

Sarah also adopted a dog this past weekend at the Animal Welfare. This is Charlie, he's a 4 month old Shepherd mix. He's a really nice fella but not yet housebroken so I follow him around with a roll of paper towels and a bottle of Resolve. So our house is crazy with the 3 dogs. Charlie has taken a liking to Piggy (our pug) and he is very amorous with her. She on the other paw would rather see him dead than getting fresh with her every chance he gets. I keep telling her to hang in there, Charlie will be at his own house by the weekend.

wacky weather

Here is a look from my backyard, it's dinner time and a storm is rolling in. Kind of pretty isn't it? Love the rainbow!

Much Better

Well thanks to you girls I am feeling much better about things. I do appreciate all your kind notes, It really helped to hear that some of, most of you have had the same experiences. So on that note I will stop whining and feeling sorry for myself and move forward.

Have you met Lavergne yet? She's my blue budgie/parakeet. Lavergne is the newest addition to our household. The other critters are not particularly fond of her but we like the racket she makes.

I went to one of favorite vintage shops yesterday and found just the thing. I wasn't going to buy anything under the circumstances but was able to justify this household need.  It's a toilet paper holder! I have no storage in my bathroom and Murphys Law being what it is, I am ALWAYS the one caught with no back-up roll. So this little pretty is just the fix! Honestly I had never seen anything like it and was so happy to have found it.

I found one on Ebay today, if you're interested here's the link. I like the color better on this one, here's the picture........wanna trade?

Well thats about it for the day. Hope to start blogging a bit more frequently, at least for awhile.

One dreary day in my middle-aged life.

Ugly morning. It's 8:15am and the sky is dark, almost brooding like my mood. Yesterday I went into work and a few hours in was called into the office....here's where the music starts DUNNN, DUH, DUNNN, DUH...I was informed that business was bad, bad everywhere and that they could not afford to keep me on staff any longer. WHAT?????? I've been there a month and I'm blamed for economic spending being down! Let's also make the story even more shattering by saying that it's not like I made a lot of money and I certainly put in more time than I was ever paid for. I sat there dumbfounded while he proceeded to ask me whether I'd like to finish the day, HELL NO I DON'T! I walked a mile and a half home in tears. The walk was good, helped me burn off the desire to tear his head off.

So here I sit contemplating my next move...although I think its just to the kitchen to eat some damn Pop-Tarts. Today I will sit around engrossed in magazines and feel sorry for myself. I'll probably eat too much and do no housework, might even take a walk in the rain....perhaps not such a bad day at all. Ha!

I think I'd like to be this girl, all smiles and happy....maybe tomorrow.

Autumn Skies

Well here it is two weeks after my last post, vowing to be back the next day and nothing. I'm having a hard time getting my life in balance now that I'm back at work. Unfortunately there are far too few hours to do all the things that I need and want to do. Luckily Mike decided to decorate the front of the house for us. I think he did a great job. It was a nice surprise to come home to this after work. Completely unsolicited and done out of love.

He really went all out with the mums and they look beautiful...even under the dull Autumn skies. The old jade chair doesn't match but it's handy for holding pots at the door. Next year we plan to paint the house if we're still here, so tired of boring house colors!

Don't you just love these pumpkins?? We found them at our fave flea market. I think they're called Cinderella pumpkins and they're the perfect gray-green shade, very ghoulish! The scarecrow is something that we crafted years ago and still drag it out for Fall fun.

We've come to the proverbial 'fork in the road' of late and are tossing around some big decisions again. My oldest, Sarah, and her fiance have just started the home-buying process and hope to be in a home of their own by early next month. My baby, Kate is now staying with her boyfriend on a permanent basis and is very happy with their set-up. She will start school in January and has just landed a pretty decent part time gig to tie her over. The girls are both deliriously happy and thats what counts. Which leaves Mike and I facing life as empty nesters. In just the last few months we had 5 adults (parents and children), 2 dogs and 2 cats in the house and now we'll be down to just the two of us and the 2 dogs. Big changes. Empty nesters. Hmmmphf!

So we are kicking around selling the house now. We haven't made up our mind as we really don't know what it is that we want to do. We are thinking about all the space, empty rooms, heating bills on a 7 room house where 2 to 3 rooms are all that will be used. Gosh the changes ahead....really is strange.

We started our marriage with my oldest already in tow so we have never really been alone....ever! I guess we'll figure it out as we go along. It would be nice to travel, take more vacations....uh I mean be able to take a vacation. It's all about priorities isn't it.  My old boss told me once that although he could afford one of the nicest homes in town that they had chosen something more modest because they chose to spend their money on travel. I understand that. It's not that we have a grand house, quite the contrary but I'm not planning any globe-trotting either. It's just about life and living. I want to live a bit and sample whats out there. Perhaps we could splurge and have a nice dinner at a trendy restaurant once in awhile or maybe go off on a long weekend, just because. Maybe we could help the kids a bit more, not just with financial stuff but time...ahhhh sweet time. We never have enough.

Lots of ideas swishing around in my middle-aged head. If this is another chapter of our lives beginning then so be it! I think I still have another adventure left in me. Stay posted.